Eric Schmidt: ‘Steve Jobs Gave The Best Performance By A CEO In 50 Years’

In a conversation with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said that Steve Jobs is probably the best CEO in the past 50 years, maybe 100 years. He said of Jobs: Steve Jobs gave the best performance by a CEO in 50 years, maybe 100 years. He not only built Apple once, but twice. As you probably know, Jobs resigned from his position as Apple’s CEO last week.

Of course, Schmidt was on Apple’s board until Android came in the way and started competing with iOS, causing a major conflict for the then Google CEO. He did say that he was proud to be on the board of Apple in the past. When asked about the differences between the ‘Steves,’ (meaning Steve Jobs and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer), Schmidt quipped, “there are differences in ability.”

As for what will be hot in the future, Schmidt says definitively: the next generation of leaders and startups to emerge will involve mobile, local, and social. He explains that we’ve exhausted the limits of the PC as a platform, the future will be mobile first.